Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin dominated in Russia during the lockout and could have a jump on others in the NHL. / John E. Sokolowski, USA TODAY Sports

by Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports

by Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports

Winner: Owners. They will receive a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue after receiving only 43% in the previous CBA. Based on last year's revenue, that change would mean an additional $231 million a year. That translates to well over $2 billion over a 10-year CBA, and it could push toward $3 billion with some strong growth. The 50-50 split was the owners' primary objective.

Loser: Arena employees, local businesses, NHL employees and some team employees. They have lost money in their revenue or their paychecks, and there is no direct benefit for them in the owners' windfall. NHL employees took a 20% pay cut.

Winner: Big NHL markets. Big-revenue teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers will have higher profits because the 50-50 split will mean a lower ceiling on the salary cap.

Loser: Players/owners. The final tally won't be known until the end of the season, but players lost 40% of their wages this season and owners were losing $8 million to $10 million a day in revenue. If they could have come to an agreement earlier, they would have saved plenty of money.

Winner: Scot L. Beckenbaugh. The U.S. federal mediator essentially saves the season with shuttle diplomacy Friday after negotiations became hostile again Thursday. He helped them find common ground. He brought calm to a process where anger was in style.

Loser: Gary Bettman/Donald Fehr. Fair or not, fans are blaming them for not getting a deal done sooner.

To be determined: Players. No matter how you spin this, players have a smaller share of total dollars and fewer contract rights than they had before. But in negotiations that were clearly about givebacks, they now they have a pension plan that they truly desired and they stayed unified and kept the damage to less than had been anticipated. Remember, owners were originally seeking a five-year cap on individual cap contracts and a 5% year-to-year variance level.

To be determined: Smaller markets. The seven-year cap on individual contracts, and the 35% year-to-year variance limit on contracts, will make it more difficult for big-market teams to bully them economically as the Philadelphia Flyers did to the Nashville Predators last summer on Shea Weber. Increased team revenue sharing will help. The reduction of the salary cap helps those with smaller revenue streams. Still, they were expecting more of a boost than they received. The NHL's original demands on contract lengths, variances, etc., would have been a greater help.

Winner: Evgeni Malkin. The Pittsburgh Penguins star has been a tour de force in the Kontinental Hockey League (with 62 points in 36 games), and he's going full speed while many players will be trying to find their legs when the NHL season starts. He could average two points a game this season.

Loser: Anze Kopitar. Although the Los Angeles Kings star's knee injury isn't thought to be serious, he could miss some time or be less than 100% right away because of an injury suffered in his final game in Europe.

Winner: Teams with few roster changes. Nashville has two new players, and one is goaltender Chris Mason, who was there before. They aren't trying to create chemistry during a shortened season.

Loser: Teams with new coaches. Adam Oates probably wants to institute a new system with the Washington Capitals, but he will have only a short training camp. There are new coaches in four NHL cities.

Winner: Henrik Zetterberg and Damien Brunner. They have been playing well together with EV Zug in Switzerland and now they could be linemates with the Detroit Red Wings.

Loser: KHL All-Star Game. Their Jan. 13 game was expected to have Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Alex Ovechkin and other NHL stars, but they will be back home in training camp.

Winner: Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis: The Flyers and Bruins had 11 players on European rosters, and the Blues had 10. Those teams should be the most ready to start the NHL season.

Loser: Vancouver Canucks. They had three regulars playing on European teams.

Winner: All of the players who signed extensions in the weeks and days before the lockout began. Though they might feel a pinch with escrow deductions, their salaries and cap hits are established going forward.

Loser: Unsigned players. the Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn and Montreal Canadiens' P.K. Subban, among others, might be getting less than they would if they had signed earlier. After all, the salary cap is going down next season.

Winner: Kings. The Stanley Cup hangover shouldn't be an issue this season because every team in the league might have some sluggishness with a mid-January start.

Loser: Fans. They lost NHL entertainment for parts of four months, and some probably won't come back out of anger.